The Marauders' First year R&R
by chp2000
Summary: OK... here's my second story about James Potter (and co) in their 1st year at Hogwarts. I know it's been done before but I TRIED to make it original, I really did try! I'm not writing ANY more until I get REVIEWS! (Please don't judge by the summary!)
1. Number 8 Sarvin Square

A/N OK, this is my SECOND story and I know everyone's done this SOOOO many times B4 but just read mine, it's as original as possible! (Sorry if u recognise anything) and pllleeeeaaassseeee R&R!!!! Just read it! (  
  
CHAPTER 1  
  
"SCORE!" Came the triumphant cry of James Potter. He was naturally talented at Quidditch along with several other things, keeping himself tidy, apparently was not one of them. 'I really don't know who he inherited it from!' His mother would mutter as she tried with fail to tame his wild, dark head. He was quite short and skinny for the average eleven year old, and had dark eyes. He whirled around on his broomstick to face his father. "Score please?" He would grin. Even though his father refused to play quidditch anymore, he had still been appointed referee (from the ground) and score keeper.  
  
"Yeah but you cheated!" Muttered Ben Arricot from next door. James wouldn't have been playing with the silly nine year old if his other friend, Oliver White, who was already at Hogwarts hadn't been away in France. He wouldn't play with any of the other children in his village, the rest were muggles and neither knew nor cared what quidditch was.  
  
"I never cheat." James proudly announced, turning to the goal post and waiting expectantly for his father to release the snitch.  
  
"This is a stupid game." Ben declared. "The rules are daft, not surprising since we're twelve members short and you almost knocked me off my broomstick earlier with your club!"  
  
"It's quite difficult to catch a quaffle and hit a bludger at the same time." James snarled through gritted teeth.  
  
"Surely not for England's best quidditch player?" Ben questioned unwisely.  
  
James threw his beater club at him. Bulls eye! It his him squarely in the nose before falling into his mother's freshly planted bush of honeysuckle, snapping the frail stems apart. He turned back to Ben who had blood pouring down his face, though he was trying hard to hide his tears. "JAMES!" Roared his father but he took no notice.  
  
"Ooh! Scary!" Whined Ben; sniffing and trying to act like the shot didn't hurt him. He did know how to wind someone up, that was for sure!  
  
"Yeah, it was supposed to be."  
  
"Well you failed then didn't you? Learn to recognise sarcasm." Ben sniffed again.  
  
His father was still calling up to him, though his threats were non existent since they were more than twelve feet apart but again he ignored it. He had always had a bad temper. Especially when provoked.  
  
"Buzz off Ben." James muttered, trying to gain control over his rapidly growing rage. He shouldn't have invited him over. He was only as a last resort really.  
  
"James get down here NOW!" His father yelled up again.  
  
"Fine." Ben snapped. "Good luck when you're playing for the county! From all your violations you'll make the score minus 50 to 150." He was now trying to stem the flow of his swelling nose.  
  
"Thanks. Yep, I always dreamed I'd catch the snitch after the others had fifty penalties."  
  
"Oh you're so funny!" Ben snapped, flying down to Earth and throwing the club and quaffle on the ground. "Thanks Mr and Mrs Potter, shame your son can't be as welcoming as you." The pair of them cried words of apology after him but Ben didn't turn and with that he had left the garden, James hovering uncertainly in the air, after one of the worst Quidditch matches he had ever played in. Reluctantly and unwillingly he flew down to his fuming parents, already feeling ashamed of his outburst. Well Ben Arricot was not welcome at number 8 Sarvin Square ever again. 


	2. Hogwarts Letters

A/N Why aren't you reviewing???!!! Come on please!!! ( OK, here's chapter 2, enjoy! ;-)  
  
CHAPTER 2  
  
It was now early August. James stretched out on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. Oliver was back from France and he would be outside playing quidditch right now if his parents banned him from playing it all holiday, ever since that club incident a few days ago. It wasn't really his fault. Ben had been asking for it. He didn't even care that he had just come back from the hospital with a broken nose, even though he had to pretend to when his stupid parents had forced him round to apologise.  
  
It was great to have left that stupid muggle primary school. He had tried with fail to explain to the other children that Quidditch was played in the air but they just laughed and ignored him. Science was the most stupid subject he had ever had the misfortune to come across. Why would anyone apart from a brainy old scientist bother spending hours on end trying to understand that the moon revolves around the Earth? James closed his eyes. Through the open window he could hear shouts through the open window. Oliver would soon wish he had never invited Ben round to play quidditch...  
  
There was the gentle sound of flapping wings. James sat up and looked around for the source of the noise. A smart brown owl was perched on his windowsill, a letter in its talons. It stuck out its leg and within seconds, James had ripped of the letter, broke the wax seal and read.  
  
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY  
  
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
(Order of Merlin, First class, Grand Sorc., Chf Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)  
  
Dear Mr Potter,  
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 10 August.  
  
Yours sincerely,  
  
Minerva McGonagall Deputy Headmistress  
  
James was grinning from ear to ear as he raced down the stairs, handing the letter to his parents who were in the Kitchen.  
  
"Oh wonderful!" Camilla Potter flung her arms round her son.  
  
"You're going to love it there." Said his father, grinning almost as widely as James.  
  
Sorry about the short chapter, I really couldn't start on the next part without starting a new chapter. Sorry, I'll make up for it in later chapters!!! Keep R&R ing!!! Thankyou so much! 


	3. Diagon Alley

A/N OK, Chapter 3 finally here! (You know, isn't it Great that I'd rather be doing this than revising 4 my exams??) Hope you appreciate! Lol PLEASE R&R and THANKYOU 4 READING it is GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! (  
  
CHAPTER 3  
  
James had been in Diagonally several times before with his parents. The one time he had actually been bought something was on his tenth birthday, for which he had received a white mouse he named Hector.  
  
He spent half an hour in Olivanders, until finally finding the perfect, 11 inch wand containing a single unicorn tail hair.  
  
He then got all his school books, noticing several students round about his own age. One of whom had dark red hair and startling green eyes. David Potter winked at him as he saw who his son was gazing at. "Pretty girl is she?" He said laughing. James scowled and turned his head to look back at Defence against the Dark Arts grade 1, before quickly shooting her one last glance when his father was looking the other way. He did see another boy, but he couldn't be sure whether he was first or second year and didn't approach incase it turned out he was a snobbish fifth year prefect. Then after several other shop visits, carried their shopping back into the Leaky Cauldron. The BarMan winked at them from behind the counter. "Ah, 'Ogwarts is it? Yer, we've 'ad quite a number of yer in here!"  
  
James half smiled, half frowned as he wondered what the ideal reply to this comment would be.  
  
"Yes, I'm sure it's been very busy." His mother spoke for him.  
  
"First year is it?" The barman grunted, glancing at James.  
  
James nodded not wanting to ask how the barman knew this. "Can we go?" He hissed out of the corner of his mouth. So the three of them grabbed a handful of floo powder and moments later found themselves sprawled across the carpet of number 8 Sarvin Square.  
  
James dumped the supplies in his bedroom, listening briefly to hear if the joyful cries had stopped. He was satisfied to discover they had. That would show Oliver for daring to invite someone other than him over to play quidditch.  
  
Hector's cage was getting dirtier by the second. It puzzled him greatly to wonder how such a small animal could cause such a lot of mess. He began thinking briefly about Hogwarts, he would like to be in Gryffindor house. That's where most of his relatives had been, though his mother had been a Ravenclaw and one of his uncles a Hufflepuff, he felt sure that was the house he would be sorted into. For weeks and months and years he had begged his father to tell him exactly what his schooldays had been like. Everytime he had asked how his parents would met, they would glance at each other and giggle girlishly. This used to infuriate him, as it was almost impossible to get a serious answer out of them. Eventually his father explained how they used to sneak down to the kitchens in his invisibility cloak and have nightly feasts.  
  
"The others couldn't understand it. We never ate much at Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner then we weren't exactly shrivelling away." His father laughed. "Yes, we used to have so much fun with that cloak." He winked at James who grinned. His mother was oblivious to the fact that David had passed on the cloak to James for his eleventh birthday.  
  
"Now don't go putting ideas into James' head!" His mother would say, though smiling herself. They caught each others eye and collapsed into laughter once more.  
  
James smiled to himself as he placed Hector back in his now slightly cleaner cage (cleaning had never really been his thing) and clambered into bed. Only twenty more days. He thought happily to himself.  
  
A/N: Sorry, I would have continued with this chapter but where would I go from there??!! Sorry about the continued use of the word 'Happy' I know its way 2 over used! But English has never been my strong point... 


	4. The Hogwarts Express!

A/N: OK, yet another chapter, this thing writes itself! I'm not even getting writers block! KEEP READING AND PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!!!! It's REALLY appreciated, honestly!!!  
  
CHAPTER 4  
  
"It's so annoying!" James declared as his knight attacked yet another of Oliver's pawns. "Why does time go so slowly when you want it to go fast?"  
  
Oliver shrugged and turned back to the board. "No!" He yelped as yet another of his pieces was beheaded.  
  
"Tell me what Hogwarts it like!"  
  
"I've already told you. I've told you a million times." Oliver grumbled as he lost a bishop.  
  
"Well it doesn't sound much fun to me, all you do is work."  
  
"Not all the time." Oliver protested.  
  
"Well that's the point of going to school isn't it?" David Potter appeared through the door. "Mind you, we can hardly say anything ourselves..." He laughed, and James heard a giggle from the kitchen.  
  
"Well you'll find out next week anyway." Said Oliver checking his watch. "I think we'll just say you won..." He got to his feet. "I'm sure I'll see you at Hogwarts." He vanished through the door.  
  
"If you want to find out about Hogwarts, why don't you read one of the books we got in Diagon Alley?" His mother suggested. James shuddered at the thought. 'Those books' were presently collecting dust at the back of his wardrobe and that was probably how they would stay all year...  
  
The next few days took about double the ordinary daytime length. As he watched the big white clock above the kitchen sink one Friday evening, he was sure one of the hands had actually gone backwards...  
  
"Now!?" James asked grinning from ear to ear.  
  
"Well we have to be at Kings Cross by eleven tomorrow!" His parents laughed.  
  
Finally! James raced up the stairs to pack his trunk, well not pack – but haul most of his bedroom in anyway.  
  
He hardly slept at all that night – he didn't understand why he should be so excited about going to school. Hogwarts had to be different from Primary school though. He waved his wand around casually, watching the purple sparks issuing from the end, shooting out in all directions – dazzling the darkness with their lively electric shade. James closed his eyes and before he knew it – birdsong filled his ears.  
  
"Can we go yet? Can we go yet?" James would continuously ask. Eventually managing to choke on his piece of toast in doing so.  
  
"Yes, yes, in a minute. What have you put in this trunk!" David Potter exclaimed as he tried to lift it – eventually giving up and using his wand to fly it into the back of the car.  
  
"How come we can't take floo powder?" James inquired as the car pulled out of the drive.  
  
"Where would we end up? The Leaky Cauldron?" His mother said smiling. "They can't connect a floo network to the platform. Too many muggles around."  
  
"Walk through? Like that thing we went through in Gringotts?" James asked curiously, looking at the barrier suspiciously.  
  
"I'll go first then." Said David pushing the trolley through the barrier. Seconds later, he had gone. The group of middle aged muggles in businesslike suits walking briskly past didn't seem to have noticed anything strange about the fact that one minute a man with a mouse and trunk was standing by platform ten and next minute, he was gone.  
  
James took a step back and ran into the barrier, to find himself face to face with an enormous scarlet red steam train seconds later. The Hogwarts Express!  
  
He stared at it in awe as his parents began their speech. "Well, have a very good year." His mother began. "And please be good! It's quite far for me to drive you know!"  
  
"Have fun." His father said, looking round the station for parents he knew from school. "We'll see you at Christmas."  
  
"Write to us when you get there!" They called after him as he hauled his trunk onto the train. A whistle blew and more students poured on, tripping him up. He got to his feet, glaring after them. Some people! They were probably Slytherins. He continued to walk down the corridor. Peering into a carriage near the front to look for empty seats.  
  
A girl's face suddenly obscured his line of vision. Blinking, he felt the door being tugged open. "What do you want?" She asked him, staring down with an accusing glare. If it weren't for her expression, she would have been quite pretty, probably in sixth year; she had long, dark hair that swept her shoulders and very dark eyes.  
  
"I was looking for somewhere to sit." James explained, peering it to find two more girls. One with shoulder length brown hair and the other with long blonde ringlets. "I'll try somewhere else."  
  
"Don't bother trying the end compartment." The girl said slamming the door shut.  
  
James proceeded immediately to the back of the train. "Can I sit here?" He asked the one inhabitant of the forbidden carriage.  
  
"Sure." The boy said grinning. He had jet-black hair like James did. Though his eyes were much darker, almost the same shade of his hair. He stuffed the dentures he had turned purple into his trunk and turned to look at James. "What's your name?" He asked, offering him a chocolate frog.  
  
"James." He said taking it. "Potter."  
  
"I'm Sirius Black." He announced grinning. "I hope you haven't come across my cousins yet."  
  
"Erm," James began. He remembered those dark eyes at the front of the carriage. "Well a girl with dark hair told me not to sit here. She was with two other girls. One..."  
  
"One had brown shoulder length hair and the other had blonde ringlets." Sirius finished for him. "Yep, that's them. Slytherins, all of them. Bellatrix is in sixth year, Andromeda's fifth and Narcissa's third. Though Andromeda's not too bad. What house do you want to be in?"  
  
"Slytherin" James said grinning. "I'm joking!" He reassured, laughing at the expression on Sirius' face. "But obviously you want to, since your cousins are?"  
  
"Are you mad?" Sirius almost fell off his seat. "Of course not! If my family choose Slytherin, I choose Gryffindor!" He said grinning.  
  
"Me too." James said quickly.  
  
"Well what's this?" Came a drawl from the doorway. There stood a bat like boy with very greasy hair, a hooked nose and a sneer planted across his face. "I don't think much of your company Black." He sniggered. There were others lurking behind him, bodyguards.  
  
"I don't think much of yours." Sirius replied as he caught a glimpse of one of the figures. "Haven't seen you for a while Lucius Malfoy." He said as an older boy with whitish hair entered.  
  
A/N: I've only had ONE review so far! PLEASE REVIEW! (I've accepted anonymous by the way ;-)) 


	5. The Sorting Hat

A/N: Here's another chapter... I know it's so like the others but it does change later. And if you're bored of this, you could R&R 'Harry Potter and the Magician's Secret' (Just type that into the search box) PLEASE KEEP READING AND PLEASE REVIEW! THANK YOU  
  
CHAPTER 5  
  
"What are you doing in the company of Potter?" Lucius Malfoy drawled.  
  
"What do you mean?" James asked confused.  
  
"Go away Malfoy." Sirius turned his back on him, but for all the good it did he might as well have just told his trunk to wander round the compartment.  
  
"Mmm, no." Malfoy decided. "I think you should come to our compartment at the front – before you get contaminated!" He let out a raucous laugh.  
  
There were fresh voices from the doorway. "Excuse me, oh sorry was that your foot? Please can we come through?"  
  
Seconds later, two boys entered. One was rather tired looking with pale brown hair and large bags under his eyes. The other was quite short and chubby, with a mop of blond, clumped on his round face. "Do you mind if we sit here?" One of them asked.  
  
"Well we don't own the compartment. Can't really say no can we?" Sirius said quietly, eyeing them as though they had interrupted them while they had been doing something very important. James turned to the door, but the Slytherins had gone, to be replaced by a witch pushing a trolley.  
  
"Anything off the trolley dears?" She asked.  
  
Sirius, James and the boy with blond hair helped themselves to snacks and shoved some sliver in her bony fingers.  
  
"Do you want anything Remus?" The blond boy asked, sticking a bar of honeydukes chocolate under his nose.  
  
"No, no that's alright thank you." Remus replied.  
  
"Oh, by the way, I'm Peter Petigrew and he's Remus Lupin." Peter informed them. He waited expectantly than inquired, "what's your name?"  
  
"Sirius," Sirius grumbled as though he thought such a question was highly unnecessary.  
  
"Name's James." James said, watching as Remus Lupin pulled out a thick brown book and buried his nose in it. Sirius snorted. Remus looked up at him in disgust.  
  
"Sorry," Sirius said, still grinning. "I choked on my chocolate." Unconvinced, Remus sunk back down in his chair, shooting occasional dirty looks over at them.  
  
"So, what house do you want to be in?" Peter asked nervously, trying to keep the conversation going.  
  
"Guess." James muttered in a rather bored voice as though there were a rather annoying wasp trying to get through the glass windows.  
  
"Umm... Hufflepuff?" Peter attempted. Sirius laughed. "No... no..." Peter stammered anxiously at the offended look on James' face. "Ravenclaw?" James raised his eyebrows. "Gryffindor?"  
  
"Yes." James said frostily.  
  
"Imagine him in Hufflepuff!" Sirius laughed.  
  
James continued to be the butt of Sirius' joke throughout the rest of the train journey, and only when they drew to a halt in Hogsmeade, did Sirius' laughter subside.  
  
"Firs' years over 'ere!" Barked a gigantic man with a bushy beard, at least twice the size of them and three times as large.  
  
Gradually, the new students traipsed towards this giant specimen as he informed them they would be rowing across the lake in boats. It was only drizzling, but by the time they finally arrived at the castle, anyone would think they'd been out in a downpour.  
  
"Whoopee!" Cackled something as it soared through the air. "What fun!"  
  
The foul, yet familiar stench of dungbomb filled James' nostrils as whatever it was dropped a dozen of the things down on them.  
  
"That will do Peeves." A tall, but youngish witch with a bony face and her hair tied in a bun. She removed the smell with a flick of her wand. "I am Professor McGonnagal, Deputy Headmistress. The sorting ceremony is about to begin. You will be called up in alphabetical order to put on the hat and sit on the stool, to be sorted into the correct house." As she turned to leave, many eyes lingered on Clive Abbott who would be the first to try on the hat.  
  
"Yes, I know!" He hissed as yet more people turned.  
  
They entered the Great Hall to find the night sky luminous above them, it glittered with stars and there were dark clouds lurking amongst the mass of blue. The four long house tables were becoming rapidly filled. There were candles floating in mid-air, a light contrast to the sky above.  
  
James looked back into the Hall to see a small stool with a rather grubby looking hat perched on it.  
  
The hat opened its 'mouth' and began its song.  
  
(A/N: I copied this song from one of my other, erm, masterpieces. (Harry Potter and the Magician's secret) so I thought I should just give myself credit for that :-D)  
  
Many Hundred Years ago, I said to you before, Hogwarts founders walked among us, In total they were four.  
  
Said Gryffindor; the boldest were the ones mighty and just, Said Ravenclaw, the cleverest, to teach them, we must, Said Hufflepuff, I'll have them all, I won't have favourites from the throng, Said Slytherin; the ambitious ones will take over once I'm gone.  
  
In past years, at Hogwarts school, We've created many great Wizards or witches, You see, at Hogwarts School, it's courage or virtue, It's not all about the riches.  
  
You may belong in Gryffindor, And turn out to be brave, Or maybe you're a Slytherin, Ambition they do crave.  
  
Or perhaps you are a Hufflepuff, Who are just and true, Or maybe you're a Ravenclaw, The cleverest, maybe you.  
  
You'll never know if you don't try me on, I'm clear as crystal you see, The sorting hat will find your house, That sorting hat is me.  
  
"Abbot Clive." Rang Professor McGonnagal's voice.  
  
James watched as Clive pulled the hat over his head and waited for its decision.  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!" Roared the hat and Clive Abbott leapt to his feet and bounced over to the Hufflepuff table, shooting happy looks over at the other first years.  
  
James tried to catch Sirius' eye but he was staring fixedly at the Slytherin table, where his cousins sat, smirking. James scanned the Ravenclaw table to find Oliver White and saw that to his disappointment, his search was ungratified as he was watching the sorting so carefully, James didn't think he would have got his attention if he had shouted in his ear.  
  
After Daisy Atkin and Robert Barcel were sorted into Ravenclaw, Sirius' name was called. He trudged slowly towards the hat, as though facing his execution and pulled it over his head. James was not really sure if Sirius was quite as determined as he was to be in Gryffindor. There was silence for a very long time. Then... "GRYFFINDOR!" Called the hat. James laughed as he watched Bellatrix fall off the bench and Narcissa gaze in horror at the Gryffindor table, where Sirius gave her a sarcastic wave. Even many of the other students were surprised to see that finally one of the 'royal' blacks had been sorted into Gryffindor.  
  
Harry saw Sirius look angrily at Remus Lupin as he too was made a Gryffindor, then as Peter Petigrew was made the same. "Potter James!" Came McGonnagal's voice. James walked nervously towards the hat and pulled it on. His last thoughts were... what would it like to be in Ravenclaw?  
  
"Ravenclaw eh?" Came a voice from his head. 'NO!' James thought frantically. 'I've got no brains!' "Now that's where you're very wrong indeed..." Came the voice again. 'I don't want to be in Ravenclaw!' James thought again. "Ah, here we are... yes, plenty of courage, you're in for a surprise! I know exactly where to put you... GRYFFINDOR!" Called the hat. Relieved, James hurried over to the Gryffindor table where he saw Sirius give him the thumbs up and offer him the empty space to his right.  
  
After Melissa Welchwood became a Slytherin, the sorting hat fell silent and Dumbledore got to his feet. James had heard he was quite a recently appointed headmaster. He was smiling down at the students with great pleasure. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" He said beaming down at the four house tables. "For the meantime however, you may begin." He smiled as the empty plates on the table were at once heaving with food. James and Sirius didn't need telling twice. That chocolate they had had on the train didn't seem like a mere few hours ago.  
  
Remus Lupin shot them disgusted looks every now and then. "What?" Sirius asked grumpily the fifth time this happened. "You must be hungry as well, you didn't eat anything on the train."  
  
"Actually, I think I've lost my appetite." Remus said turning back to his small mound of food.  
  
James noticed that Sirius kept glancing over at the Slytherins, where many eyes were still upon him. Bellatrix hadn't touched her plate of food, and in her eyes, was a look of purest loathing.  
  
When at last, the plates were cleared, James saw Dumbledore get to his feet. The hall fell silent, except for one third year girl who had been talking so loudly and excitedly, she hadn't noticed. "Yes Marjorie! I did always say you should never judge a cauldron by..." She announced, before falling silent as well.  
  
"Just a few start of term notices," Dumbledore explained. "Mr Filch, the caretaker has reminded me to tell you that you should not use magic in the corridors, and there is a list of, what is it now... two hundred and fifty seven objects that are banned from Hogwarts. Quidditch tryouts will begin on the second week of term. I believe that is all."  
  
"Now that is strange." Came a rather bored voice. Whipping around, James came face to face with...  
  
"Nearly headless Nick!" Shouted a Gryffindor fifth year.  
  
"Please," The ghost protested, closing his eyes as though praying for patience. "I prefer to be known by the name of..."  
  
"Yes you told us last year." The fifth year reminded him.  
  
"Well, I was going to request your thoughts on Dumbledore's mistake."  
  
"What mistake?" A chorus of Gryffindors asked, edging nearer.  
  
"He failed to mention the Forest." Nearly Headless Nick said.  
  
"What forest?" James and Sirius asked the ghost.  
  
"The forest in the grounds. It had been proved dangerous for many years, no headmaster has ever failed to remind us."  
  
"So, it's not forbidden this year?" James asked. What could be dangerous about a mass of trees?  
  
"Of course it is! Perhaps he just forgot." Nearly Headless Nick glided past the Gryffindors and came to rest next to the Fat Friar of Hufflepuff.  
  
A/N: Finally! I've written another. I know it's a bit boring at the moment, it DOES get interesting though. PLEASE REVIEW! Thank you to everyone who has! 


	6. Finally inside the Gryffindor common roo...

A/N: As well as saying typing the 'I don't own Harry Potter characters' speech I'd like to say THANKYOU!!!!! To everyone who has reviewed. Keep reading!  
  
CHAPTER 6  
  
They headed up to the Gryffindor common room, having to ask five people for directions on the way, to find that a silly looking woman in a rather... out of date pink flowery dress would not let them in.  
  
"You're sure that bloke with the boil gave us the right directions?" Sirius questioned, looking down at the piece of parchment the fifth year Hufflepuff had irritably scribbled down the directions to their dormitory on. "Told you we shouldn't have waited so long in the Great Hall..." He said wisely in response to James' puzzled look.  
  
"Are you going to keep me standing here all night!?" The picture asked.  
  
"I suppose so... You're glued to the wall aren't you..." James said thoughtfully.  
  
Sirius groaned. "Really witty." He said, but grinning, turned back to the fat lady. "Just let us in will you? Then you can go have a chat with that handsome portrait on the second floor."  
  
The fat lady blushed furiously but glowered at them. "Just tell me the password!" She demanded, looking very flustered.  
  
"Oh! So that's what she was on about!" James exclaimed, a look of slow realisation spreading his face. "D'you know the password?" He turned to Sirius.  
  
"Yeah... right. How am I supposed to know it? I've been with you! When in doubt turn to the one who's family's all in SLYTHERIN!..."  
  
"Alright!" James snapped impatiently. "Let's go find a prefect or something."  
  
They were not hard to miss. James noticed that all the students dancing about with a permanent sickening smile and gleams shining from their robes were none other than the beasts themselves. They approached an unfortunately over pompous one who was skipping merrily to the bathroom, robes swinging. "Er... could you tell us the password to the Gryffindor common room?" James asked, watching as the prefect's face contorted with exasperation.  
  
"Excuse me for saying so... but I pride myself in being a Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff... Helga, dear old Helga Hufflepuff... such a kind, helpful..."  
  
"Yeah, alright." Sirius muttered as they went back to the fat lady and explained to her that they had had no luck.  
  
"Not my fault!" The moody old cow snapped.  
  
"Leoninus" Came a bored voice from behind them. It was Remus Lupin, the boy they had sat next to on the train.  
  
"Excuse me please." He said in a rather irritated tone as though him and Sirius were specks of dust on his no doubt future prefect badge. He climbed into the common room, James and Sirius dashing in after, before the fat lady had time to stop them.  
  
"Where were you then?" James asked Remus as he sunk into an armchair by the fire.  
  
"What do you mean?" Remus inquired taking out another book and not looking at James who had sat down too.  
  
"I mean... you weren't in the Great Hall with us after the others had gone so you must have been with the others." James said as though finally learning the true meaning of one plus one. (A/N: Sorry about the JK like expression but it's also one of my favourites!)  
  
"Oh well spotted." Remus said coldly. "If you really must know, I was seeing the Headmaster."  
  
"What about?" Sirius drifted over after feeling fully satisfied that there were no secret passageways in the Gryffindor common room.  
  
"You two are the nosiest people I have ever met!" Remus announced shrilly, throwing the book into his trunk. "It has been wonderful to have met you and no doubt I'll see you in the morning but I am now going up to the dormitories. Goodnight." He marched off up the spiral staircase.  
  
"Imagine what it's going to be like... sharing a dormitory with him." Sirius said grumpily. "The others better be alright."  
  
It turned out however, that the others were not to Sirius' liking at all. Peter Petigrew, the boy they had met on the train was oddly cheerful as though trying to make a good first impression. The other two boys (Albert Davis and Frank Longbottom) were asleep when they arrived, along with Remus Lupin of course, but Sirius seemed to have already judged them on this simple fact.  
  
Peter was talking in a hushed whisper, while James and Sirius were chatting merrily as though they were in a school corridor. Peter kept glancing nervously at the other three boys. After being ignored for five whole minutes, he gave up and he too climbed into bed and said no more to them.  
  
A/N: Sorry about the late update! I take a LOT of reviews to make me update!! THANKS 2 EVERY1 WHO HAS!!! Keep R and Ring! I'll post the next chapter after exams ( ( ( 


	7. Morgan Vexalt

CHAPTER 7  
  
"Er... James... Sirius..." Came a timid voice.  
  
James heard a load groan from Sirius. "What?" He mumbled sleepily, eyes half focused on a round face with blond hair. "What you doing here Peter?" He muttered, still half asleep.  
  
"Wake up or you'll be late!" He hissed nervously. "Remus and the others told me to leave you but I didn't think you'd want to be late on the first day."  
  
"I could have woken myself up. I was just about to wake up anyway." Sirius said indignantly. James watched as Peter slipped away from the dormitory.  
  
"Yeah, right... He's not that bad really..." James said thoughtfully.  
  
"You talking to yourself?" Sirius asked, staring at him.  
  
"I'm not talking about you, you idiot!" He laughed, pulling on his robes. "I meant Peter."  
  
Sirius grinned. "Whatever you say."  
  
They changed and headed down to the Great Hall, to find it already packed with students. "Whoopee!" Peeves wailed as he knocked Albert Davis' bowl of cereal flying onto the head of an irritable sixth year.  
  
James and Sirius could not help themselves laughing as the sixth year with milk dripping down his face clumsily lumbered from the hall. Remus Lupin glowered at them again. "Why don't you grow up?" He muttered and poured himself another glass of pumpkin juice.  
  
"Sour old thing." Sirius hissed so no one else could here. Their attention was distracted from Albert and Remus however, when a wide mass of owls soared on, all different colours. Sirius frowned as a tidy chocolate brown owl came soaring towards him. A/N: And guess what happens next?! Sorry but I couldn't ignore it!!!  
  
"Oh wonderful!" Sirius exclaimed as the owl landed on James' head. "It's going to be just great to hear from my lovely family after so many hours...  
  
James shook the bird off, which landed by Sirius' plate and stuck out its leg from which Sirius took the red envelope, which was now starting to smoke.  
  
Most of the Gryffindors surrounding them began to talk more loudly, as to block out the noise, while the Slytherins were turning gleefully in their seats.  
  
Sirius opened the howler nervously and stuck his fingers in his ears. "What's going on? Why is everyone covering their - " A Gryffindor first year with red hair and green eyes began, but was interrupted by the loud shriek that followed.  
  
"GRYFFIDOR!" Rang a very loudly magnified female voice. "IMAGINE MY SHOCK WHEN I RECEIVED THAT LETTER YESTERDAY! I THOUGHT I WOULD DIE! AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! WHO NEEDS TO BE BRAVE?! HAVE YOU GOT ANY IDEA HOW MUCH FILTH LURKS IN GRYFFINDOR?! WE WERE SURE ALL OUR FAMILY WOULD END UP IN SLYTHERIN, NOW THE FAMILY HONOUR HAS BEEN SPOILT AND IT IS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!"  
  
Sirius groaned and looked apologetically at the angry looking Gryffindors. "Sorry." He muttered as a fourth year girl flicked her hair and frowned at him.  
  
The Slytherins were still howling with laughter. James saw two of the girls he had seen on the train hold on to the bench to steady themselves.  
  
"Well that's made their day at least." Sirius muttered through gritted teeth.  
  
James thought he saw Remus give him a sympathetic look, though he was sure it must have been a trick of the light, as seconds later, he was checking his timetable again.  
  
"What was that?" The girl with red hair and green eyes asked. She was obviously a muggle born. James turned to see the exact same girl he had seen in the bookshop in Diagon Alley. "Sorry, it's just I don't have any magical relatives." She said in response to James' stare. She then turned her head upwards to gaze at the enchanted ceiling.  
  
"Shall we go?" James poked Sirius in the ribs.  
  
"Yeah..." He said still glaring over at the Slytherins. The pair of them got to their feet and headed to the Transfiguration classroom.  
  
"Good morning everyone." Professor McGonnagal swept into the room as though walking onto the stage. She had her hair in an even tighter bun (if that was possible) than the day before. "Now, Transfiguration is a..." McGonnagal's face blurred, in and out of focus...  
  
"Mr Potter, kindly repeat what I just said." The impatient old toad barked as her bony face obscured his line of vision.  
  
James looked around as though expecting to see the words written on Sirius' face. To his astonishment, they were.  
  
"Transfiguration, if not used in the right context can be very dangerous and sometimes deadly." James recited as the words vanished from Sirius' face.  
  
"Thank you very much Mr Black." McGonnagal praised, lips going even thinner, if she wasn't careful she wouldn't have any left. "I am very glad you were listening, but five points from Gryffindor each." She turned around and began scribbling on the blackboard, leaving the other Gryffindors free to frown at them.  
  
"Great." James muttered as his match spouted legs and dear old McGonnagal hurried over once more.  
  
"Were you listening at all?" She asked in exasperation.  
  
"Yes!" James retorted, looking horror struck she could possibly have accused him of such a crime.  
  
"Then will you please try for the sixth time to transform your match into something other than a beetle?" Professor McGonnagal simpered.  
  
"But you told us to transform the match into a beetle!" James replied, looking in confusion at Sirius who rolled his eyes and groaned.  
  
"I said a needle Mr Potter!" McGonnagal cried flouncing back to the front of the class.  
  
"How did you do that?" Frank Longbottom had turned round in his seat to admire Sirius' needle his own had turned a silvery white but was still unmistakable for wood.  
  
James quickly transformed his own match into metal so next time McGonnagal came past she had nothing more to criticise, except maybe his untidy hair...  
  
They left the classroom slowly and proceeded down to the dungeons for potions. On their way, a girl with long dark hair leapt out from the shadows. "Sirius Black, one of these days I swear I will be the one to kill you!" Bellatrix hissed.  
  
"Well I am going to live to a ripe old age and have sixteen children." Sirius informed James, grinning and ignoring his cousin.  
  
"I wouldn't bet on it." James said in an undertone. "She really does look ready to kill."  
  
"Nah, she always looks like that." Sirius said casually and the pair of them entered the potions classroom.  
  
"I'll tell Lestrange you said that." A boy with greasy hair and a hooked nose spat threateningly, he was the same one they had seen on the train.  
  
"I don't care." Sirius laughed and turning back to the boy laughed harder. "You know, I reckon I could hang my robes on his nose..." He said to James as the Slytherins vanished.  
  
"Welcome..." Came a wheezy voice from the front. "I go my the name, Professor Vexalt." On closer inspection, the dear old Professor had a gaunt, saggy look about him, only Azkaban could have achieved. His long, greying hair fell round his shoulders like curtains. "Now, potions is an amazing art... It is very... very... very..."  
  
"Boring." Sirius yawned. It was true, the greasy haired boy they had discovered, was called Severus Snape, a fact that Sirius had found hilariously funny.  
  
They were told to produce a repelling solution. James and Sirius copied down the instructions with difficulty, as the room was so dark, the potions teacher could have been a bat.  
  
"Ah, hello Mr Potter." Morgan (As they had discovered from a Gryffindor prefect) paused at James' cauldron. "I knew your parents very well indeed..."  
  
"Did you?" James thought carefully, but the name Morgan Vexalt did not ring a bell.  
  
"Yes..." Vexalt hissed. "I did know them... very beautiful girl your mother was, yes... very beautiful." James didn't really think his mother was any different from the other women roaming the supermarkets, but Vexalt obviously thought differently.  
  
"Drove me insane..." Me muttered. James knew this already. "Yes... very much so... Camilla Clepsydra. Such a beautiful girl..." James was sure he had spotted a tear hanging off the edge of Vexalt's left eye, but next moment he was pacing about the classroom again, pausing to admire Snape's brewing potion. 


	8. Silvia Swift

Yay!!! I updated!!! In response to my reviews of course! ( Well I was really amazed I managed to write chapter 7... so I'll try chapter 8! Enjoy! (  
  
CHAPTER 8  
  
The next day, as they were heading to their first Defence against the dark arts lesson, the girl with red hair (who they had discovered was called Lily Evans) approached them.  
  
"Excuse me?" She called nervously after Sirius and James.  
  
James paused in his step and turned round. It was her! Up close, she really was very beautiful. Dark red, thick hair brushing the sides of her face and jet green eyes fixed purposefully on the pair of them.  
  
"I was just wondering... have either of you seen Remus Lupin?" She questioned, fiddling with a strand of her hair.  
  
"No." They replied in unison.  
  
"Oh, I just thought you would, you know, he does sleep in your dormitory. If you actually spend time with him he can be nice. He hasn't been here at all today. I don't know where he is." Lily looked at them again, as though expecting an answer.  
  
"Er, no... I haven't seen him..." James said, hand darting to his hair. "I... maybe he's in the classroom already?"  
  
"Yeah, it's like him... get there an hour before it starts just so he can be ready to greet the new teacher with a lovely red apple." Sirius laughed.  
  
Lily glared at him. "You know, sometimes it's a wonder you two weren't put in Slytherin!"  
  
"What!" James yelped. "Me! I didn't..." But she had gone. "Oh you and your big mouth!" He snapped at Sirius.  
  
"Well, the sorting hat did almost put me in Slytherin..." Sirius said thoughtfully as they entered the classroom.  
  
Remus was not already there, but unfortunately the teacher was. "Miss Evans! Really not acceptable! Three minutes late! I..."  
  
James and Sirius burst in, eyes darting around for Remus and spare seats. "And you!" A tall woman with long, dark hair, which fell like curtains round her shoulders, approached them. A/N: NO I am not being repetitive just because I ran out of vocabulary... read ahead.  
  
"Sorry, we got lost." James lied, still looking for two empty seats. Most of them appeared occupied. "We don't have enough desks!" He said in outrage.  
  
"I think... Mr... Potter isn't it? That you will find we do have enough desks. You will be sitting over there. We are arranged in alphabetical order."  
  
"Right..." James bared his teeth and sunk into a chair by a delighted looking Peter Petigrew and a Gryffindor girl he thought was called Alice Ramsey.  
  
"Hello!" Peter hissed.  
  
"Hi Peter." James forced a smile. "Thanks for waking me up this morning."  
  
"That's Ok. I knew you wouldn't want to..."  
  
"Excuse me Mr Petigrew." The teacher snapped, checking her desk arrangement parchment. "I did not invite you to talk."  
  
"Now as I was saying..." She continued. "My name is Professor Swift and I... Yes Mr... Longbottom?"  
  
"Aren't you that witch who wrote all those books? The ones about..."  
  
"Yes, Mr Longbottom. I am an auror, indeed I wrote those books. "I travel, I travel far around the world. Some day I wished to find somewhere no man has ever trod... somewhere I can maybe find someone who cries out for help... I succeeded, dear children... I succeeded..."  
  
There was a loud snort from the front of the classroom. Sirius Black was in hysterics. "Now... Ah, hello Mr Black. I have had the pleasure of meeting your parents."  
  
James could tell from Sirius' expression (or of what he could see of it anyway) that he apparently decided that anyone who had had pleasure meeting his parents were not someone he liked. "Yes... I have met many people indeed... On my journeys..."  
  
"Are you married?" Albert Davis blurted out.  
  
There was a howl of laughter from all ends of the classroom. "No! I didn't mean it like that!" Albert blushed furiously. "I meant... does he go with you?"  
  
"I know what you meant." Professor Swift hissed. She seemed unperturbed by the outbreak. "Yes... I am married, or I was."  
  
"Please Professor!" Lily Evans, who was sitting next to Albert Davis and two seats away from Sirius. "Please! What will be learning today?" She asked breathlessly.  
  
"Well!" Professor Swift said in a more business like tone. "If that is how you feel, then please take out your books and turn to page 50. We will begin with Electric tadpoles."  
  
"She's a bit weird isn't she?" Peter whispered.  
  
"A bit!" James laughed.  
  
"I know her." The girl on his left piped up. "She's often at our house for dinner parties. There are loads of books about her though so no one really talks about her."  
  
"But does anyone read the books?" James asked, as he absentmindedly shredded his quill feather.  
  
"I don't suppose so." The girl sunk back in her chair and began to write.  
  
Remus Lupin was not in any of the lessons that day. "D'you know where Remus is?" James asked Peter suspiciously.  
  
"No. He wasn't at breakfast this morning, or dinner last night. I fell asleep before he came to the dormitories and woke up after he left."  
  
"That's weird." James said thoughtfully. They were on their way to the greenhouses. "You any goon at gardening?" He asked Sirius hopefully.  
  
"What on Earth are you doing?!" Professor Seedis came bustling over. She had longish brown hair and was rather short. "You don't torture the poor thing!"  
  
"It doesn't have feelings!" Sirius said grumpily as he and James let go of the plant.  
  
"You don't know that is doesn't! You just say that because that would make you a murderer!" Professor Seedis replied, dashing over to where Albert, Frank and Peter's shrub was shooting sap over at them.  
  
"Me! A murderer!" Sirius laughed. "Who would I murder? A plant?"  
  
They entered the Gryffindor common room that evening to find that Remus was already there, sitting in an armchair by the window. "There you are! Where have you been?" James ran over to him, dumping his school bag so close to the fire that Lily Evans pulled it back, out of harms way. James thought he saw her smile at him as he dashed over to greet Remus...  
  
"Oh, hello." He said. "If you really must know, I was visiting my mother. She's ill."  
  
"Well, I hope she gets better soon." James smiled at Remus. If he had to share a dormitory with him for the next seven years it was best they were friendly.  
  
"Thankyou." Remus said. "And... you'll laugh at me for saying this... but could you... tell me what the homework was?"  
  
"We have homework?" James looked at Sirius whose face was equally blank.  
  
Remus laughed. "I'll go and ask someone else then." He got to his feet and went to converse with Peter.  
  
"There's something odd about him..." James informed Sirius. "And we're going to find out what it is."  
  
A/N: Sorry about the boring chapter!! Well I think I should be congratulated on actually finishing it! :-D I'll write more with reviews! Yep, I'm one of those review mad people (if u haven't already guessed!) 


	9. The maraders four?

A/N: Yep, as u know I AM review mad and yes as I now know (Thanks to kurtcobain4eva) I have changed Harry back to James (It is an easy mistake, I'm writing one with Harry too and it's SO confusing!!!) But thanks for the FOUR reviews in... 5 minutes? THANKYOU!!! So here's another chapter...  
  
CHAPTER 9  
  
The week past with no real highlights, apart from breakfast the day before, when a frantic looking Snape had entered the Great Hall in search of a teacher, long, black robes hanging off his nose. Or the day before that, when he had stood up suddenly in the middle of potions and began singing the English national anthem. And who could forget that time on Wednesday evening in the entrance hall, when Snape looked up in horror to see a dozen chips, sizzling in the grease from his hair.  
  
James thought the events that followed were rather unfair... "YOU WILL PAY POTTER!" Came a yell from the end of the corridor. "You... If you... If you dare do that again!" Snape fought round for words, arms flailing wildly. "I'll tell McGonnagal!" He stormed off, round the corner in search of a teacher.  
  
"Poor Snape..." Sirius had arrived on the scene.  
  
"No... poor us." Professor McGonnagal came sweeping round the corner, nostrils flaring.  
  
A/N: I copied the next bit from my other FanFic...  
  
It was surprising it was the first time they had been in the lair of the beast... McGonnagal sat down behind her desk and fixed the pair of them with an accusing glare. "So you think it funny to choose Severus as your guinea pig for the eighth time running do you?" McGonnagal questioned, peering down her pointed nose at them.  
  
"Seventh time!" Sirius exclaimed. James said nothing, but tipped back on his chair.  
  
"Well I certainly don't think it is amusing. Seventh or eighth time." Snapped McGonnagal. "You've only been here a week." She got up and walked round the room, pushing down the back of James' chair so it was supported by four legs again. "You two did him serious damage and he's now in the hospital wing with a spout for a nose."  
  
Sirius and James tried to hide their silent laughter. Eventually they left the office, leaving an angry McGonnagal staring after them.  
  
"Spout for a nose!" Snorted Sirius. The pair of them roared with laughter. They reached a flight of stairs. "Slipentify!" He said, pulling out his wand, and the stairs changed to form a slide. They zoomed down and when they reached the bottom, almost collided with two other first years, one of whom was glaring at them disapprovingly.  
  
It was Remus and Peter. "You didn't think about people who wanted to get up the stairs did you," said Remus, who was frowning as they got to their feet,  
  
James and Sirius grinned at each other. "It's not difficult getting back up." Said James. Attempting to climb the slide and failing.  
  
"Yes, it does look easy doesn't it," Lupin said grumpily.  
  
Snape arrived at the scene, glowering at the four of them. "So did they manage to fix your nose? Doesn't look much different to me!" Taunted Sirius, watching gleefully as Snape fought for words.  
  
"Yes." He said angrily. "Who melted the stairs?" There was no answer. Snape grimaced. "It's charms next and I need to get there!" He snapped.  
  
"Oh go and hook your nose in a Potions book!" James laughed as the expression on Snape's face changed from angry to furious.  
  
"Oh but he's right!" Exclaimed Sirius in mock worry. "We can't be late for charms can we?"  
"We?" Smiled Lupin. "I'm certainly not bothered."  
"Me neither!" Squeaked Peter.  
"I'm going to find a teacher!" Spat Snape and stormed off.  
"Hello." A tall boy with a prefect badge and light brown hair had just arrived. "Is there a problem? Oh, I see there is."  
"Er, could you fix the stairs," said Lupin who was had been looking slightly concerned ever since Snape had ran off for a teacher.  
"Saxamita," said the boy and the slide returned to steps.  
"Hey Lovegood!" Came a loud voice. "Why'd you go and fix the stairs! It's a perfect opportunity for us to miss Transfiguration!"  
"I, am a prefect." He said coldly as though this ended the argument.  
"Yeah, well - " The angry mob of boys muttered and stalked off. The boy called Lovegood climbed the stairs, calling after them, "There's no point anyway! There's dozens of stairs up to the Transfiguration classroom!"  
Harry watched as Sirius and James ran round the corner and hid behind a tapestry. Lupin and Petigrew followed them. Harry then heard a voice in the background. "It was! They melted the steps and I couldn't get to charms! No, it's not an excuse!"  
"Even so, five points from Slytherin for wasting my time," came Professor McGonnagal's irritated voice. They heard her footsteps become distant, and that was when Snape chose to come round the corner.  
"You!" He shouted pointing at Lupin and Petigrew, as the others were still concealed behind the tapestry. "You – you'd better – watch out!" He yelled going red.  
"Watch out for what?" Sirius and James came out from behind the tapestry. "Your nose, yeah it's big enough to..."  
"Me!" Shouted an infuriated Snape and stamped round the corner, leaving all four of them in shrieks of laughter.  
  
"So what do we have next?" Peter asked through his laughter.  
  
"Care of Magical creatures." Lupin informed them as though learnt by heart.  
  
"Oh with Professor...Panscratch?" James asked, laughing; though this joke was far from new. "Better not be late then, ever since that leprechaun pinched him on the nose because..." But James was in fits of laughter and seemed unable to say much more.  
  
"You're late boys." Professor Panscratch took the liberty to tell them. He was definitely past his retire-by-date, had a short, bushy white beard and the little hair he had was scraped onto his shiny scull. "We're doing something fun today."  
  
"Whoopee! Another leprechaun?" Came a call from Albert Davis.  
  
"No... I think not." Professor Panscratch decided, cheeks flushing red. The memory of the previous class was still upon him. "We are studying Rincilunks."  
  
"Wrinkle what?" James was standing on tiptoes to see the withering professor. There were many indignant grumbles from the students standing in front of them.  
  
"There is enough for one each." He informed them, holding up a wooden crater so even James could see. It seemed his arms would not stand so much weight as the box fell with a crash onto his toes, causing him to scream in pain and left him clutching his toes and muttering under his breath, also (as they later discovered) in a towering rage.  
  
"No! What are you doing to it!" He hobbled over to where James was trying to teach his Rincilunk to complete an obstacle course he had set. It was a long, skinny stick like creature, with large teeth and bulbous eyes.  
  
"I'm testing its abilities." James said truthfully as the creature he had named Sirius fumbled an easy jump.  
  
"Have either of you completed your description list?" He demanded.  
  
There was an uncomfortable silence. The truth was, even Remus Lupin and some other Gryffindors had been magnetically attracted to Sirius the Rincilunk who was now eyeing Professor Panscratch with an evil glint in its eye.  
  
"Well get a move on.... AHHH!"  
  
Sirius the Rincilunk had made a giant leapt, causing Peter to cry "Oh I wish he'd do that when we wanted him to!"  
  
They were let out of the lesson fifteen minutes early, and without homework, as Professor Panscratch had raced to the hospital wing with a very bad hair day and a dozen deep 'scratches' across his face.  
  
James grinned affectionately as the Rincilunk who was now munching on a chunk of Professor Panscratch's hair. The four of them headed upstairs to the Gryffindor common room, of course laughing in through the open doors at the Students still in lessons. "I don't want to be... Er, boring but you three really should get some homework done."  
  
Peter let out a wail. "Oh Remus help me! I don't know what to do! I'm really confused!" He collapsed by Remus' feet, looking up in desperation at Remus who had seated himself on the exact armchair Sirius had been experimenting with.  
  
"Oh, sorry! I thought that girl over there was looking at that seat!" Sirius apologised, though looking excited at the same time.  
  
Remus didn't seem to notice. He opened up his schoolbag and pulled out his books. "Yes OK, Peter just leave it on the desk."  
  
James' eyes lit up. "Oh Remus! I am so confused! I don't understand a thing!"  
  
"You do understand!" Remus laughed. "You're always paying attention in Transfiguration! Oh alright, leave it there too."  
  
All three books were thrown over onto the desk as Remus sank down lower and began to scribble. "So what exactly did you do?" James hissed over at Sirius who for the first time was buried in a book.  
  
"Oh no! What happened!" A small girl with blonde plaits screamed as she stood up, taking the armchair with her as though it was as light as a feather.  
  
They couldn't help themselves from laughing as the girl went running from the common room to get stuck in the entrance because of the size of the chair. They could hear her flustered yells as the fat lady tried to restore calm. "Now really my dear! If you will just tell me..."  
  
"Non Fustis!" Sirius muttered as Remus glanced the over way, over at the little girl who was still screaming.  
  
"You know, some day this month I think we should pay the un-forbidden forest a visit..." James said under his breath, so only Sirius, Peter and unfortunately Remus heard.  
  
He stopped in mid sentence and gazed up in horror. "Are you mad?!" He stared at James.  
  
"Well what do you think, I..."  
  
"We can't go in there! Haven't you read about it?" Remus looked in horror at all three of them, who shook their heads. "Look in there..." He held open the same thick book he had had on the train.  
  
"No that's OK, I believe you..." Sirius pushed the book away. "Why not?"  
  
"Well if you read books about Silvia Swift you would understand." Remus said darkly.  
  
"What do you mean?" They questioned him further but to no avail. The book appeared to be a very interesting TV programme and although it was hard for them to tell him, without Remus, James decided he would fail all his end of year exams.  
  
A/N: Yes I KNOW it is boring right now... I'm just preparing for the amazing genius in me to burst through! No... but If all goes 2 plan it should get better later on! PLEASE REVIEW!!! Thanks (yet again, I know) to every1 who has! I LOVE GETTING REVIEWS SO IF YOU WANT UPDATES THEN REVIEW!!!! (Not that U want updates...) I know some people probably find this sooooo boring but I'll update soon anyway ( Thanks 4 reading! 


	10. Remus' secret

A/N: Yey! I'm updating! :-D (Only because of reviews of course!) Thanks 4 reading!!  
  
CHAPTER 10  
  
A month had passed since the beginning of term, not much had happened. Remus had gone to visit his sick mother; Peter had spent almost a week in hospital wing covered in Pus which refused to come off (Professor Seedis claimed to have brought the wrong lesson plan to the greenhouse) and yet again, Snape was the centre of amusement. He prowled the castle determined for a scrap of evidence against James and Sirius. Luckily, he was far from succeeding.  
  
"D'you think we can really trust them?" Sirius glanced nervously over at Remus and Peter who were sitting by the entrance to the common room and had their backs to them.  
  
"Are you mad!" James glanced up from his Defence against the Dark arts book. "They'd eat you alive! Look at this! One's almost 90 foot!" He pointed at a moving picture of a particularly brutal looking giant. "Oh and look here! He killed his wife and six children with one smash of the club! Imagine that!" He glanced admiringly down at the picture again.  
  
"Not the giants you idiot!" Sirius laughed, though he was smiling dreamily, obviously imagining killing his own family with a club. "Wouldn't it be wonderful?"  
  
"You wouldn't kill your little brother!" James said in amazement.  
  
"D'you want to bet on it?" Sirius growled.  
  
"No that's OK. So who are we not trusting?"  
  
"Them!" Sirius jerked his head over at the chatting pair.  
  
Not much we can do is there?" James muttered, but looking thoughtful. "And without Remus..." But the consequences were too drastic to think about.  
  
"Maybe we should create some sort of bond..."  
  
"Tell you what Sirius, let's concentrate on finding out his secret first." James decided.  
  
"James! We're not even doing giants at the moment! And Sirius I wanted to ask if it was you who's drawn moustaches on all the pictures of Bernard DeBriet in my potions book? Because no matter how hard I try they won't come off! And we have Potions tomorrow!" Remus had arrived. He was looking very tired, with bags under his eyes and specks of silver in his hair.  
  
"You're looking nice and lively Remus!" Sirius grinned innocently as Remus frowned at him.  
  
"And I doubt I'll get any sleep tonight, as I'm helping Peter with his Lunar essay and I'm doing your Potions ones..."  
  
"Oh you don't need to do them anymore, we finished them last night." James told him casually.  
  
Remus blinked as though the idea of James and Sirius doing homework was too mind boggling to ponder over. "Well in that case, I will get an early night then..." He traipsed upstairs, leaving his bag in the common room chair. "And I meant to tell you, you missed your detention with McGonnagal for those enchanted ballet shoes you gave her, it was five this evening."  
  
"Thanks for telling us." James snarled.  
  
"Remus wait!" Peter called; looking miserably down at the blank page that was his lunar essay.  
  
"Oh just copy this." James thrust his own at him then turned back to Sirius. "Why do you think he only visits his mum once a month? Why not every two months or three weeks? What happens every month?" James was gazing thoughtfully out of the window as though hoping to find the answer in the large, oval moon.  
  
"We could follow him... Taking your invisibility cloak..." Sirius suggested, he too staring out of the window, at a large tree whose branches moved. "Guess who it is..." He muttered following a figure with his eyes. "Severus Snape."  
  
A/N: Sorry about the short chapter, sorry its not really important to the rest of the story... Well some of it is... I really want reviews!! (sob) I need more!!! I don't write without them!! ( thanks 2 every1 who has I'll update soon if u REVIEW soon! Bye! 


	11. The full moon

A/N: REVIEWS PLEASE! Thanks so much 2 every1 who has reviewed! It is REALLY appreciated! ( Well here's a shiny new chapter! So enjoy! ;-)  
  
CHAPTER 11  
  
"James! Sirius!" Peter Petigrew yelled up from the entrance hall. "You'll love this! Someone's got Snape with a bat bogeys hex!"  
  
Sirius and James punched the air and sprinted down the last flight of stairs. "You! Albert Davis! You will die!" He was flailing wildly; a whole crowd of onlookers were laughing.  
  
"So, Severus Snape... will you." Albert was looking at Snape with a mixture of laughter and loathing.  
  
"Great!" James and Sirius were still congratulating Albert all the way into the Great Hall. "Amazing!"  
  
"Well, it was only because he insulted me..." Albert explained, pocketing his wand. "Something about my nose."  
  
Sirius tried to conceal his laughter at the mention of Albert Davis' bulbous nose, he had told James on countless occasions how it reminded him of 'Rudolph the red nosed reindeer'. Especially that time when he walked straight into a wall, to check his shoes were tied.  
  
"It's funny really, I thought we could be the two nose buddies..." Albert pressed on, grinning as he spread marmalade over his toast.  
  
Sirius and James laughed even harder at the phrase 'Nose buddies' though luckily, Albert was too immersed in his breakfast to notice.  
  
Moments later Snape himself came skidding into the hall tripped and fell with a splat to the ground. Luckily, the hex had been lifted, though he still glared over at the Gryffindors as he scrambled to his feet. His eyes darted round for the culprits. He bared his teeth in a menacing way which in James' opinion made him look like a Vampire bat upon a juicy cup of blood. "It can be the blood of Professor Vexalt." James decided. "He was busy teaching a class when STAB! Right in the chest!"  
  
"James! We are trying to eat!" Lily Evans was glaring at him. Her fellows were all looking the same way, having abandoned their breakfast entirely as James continued his story.  
  
"I should write a book." He decided, tucking into his own plate.  
  
"Yes, I'm sure it would sell very fast." Lily said grumpily, turning to Florence Patil for her approval.  
  
"Come on Lily, we'll be late for History of Magic." Annabel was pulling her to her feet as the other Gryffindor girls dashed off.  
  
"I dunno what the hurry is." Sirius muttered as he heaved a new batch of bacon onto his plate. "Binns won't even notice. He's dead, remember!"  
  
The days passed quickly, and the weather began to adjust with it, rain clouds had taken to drifting over the castle and the sky had been transformed to an ugly grey. The spindly branches of trees in the grounds were illuminated against the silver sky of the evening and in the distance, a scrawny barn owl could be spotted, ploughing through the gusts to the castle, wings slicing the still air.  
  
"Where you off to?" Remus had appeared in the common room, checking his watch nervously.  
  
"I'm going to visit my mother." He explained. "You know that."  
  
"Why every month?"  
  
Remus chose to ignore him. "I'll see you in a couple of days then..." He vanished from sight,  
  
"Right, now let's go!" James hissed when they were sure he was really gone.  
  
Peter was already outside, Sirius was 'armed and dangerous', as he chose to define his position and James had set a trap in the entrance hall to lure any students and teachers away.  
  
They slipped down to the entrance hall, where there was a large sign permanently glued to a door saying 'Have you ever wondered how to and who it was who put the charm on the blackboards? Or who transformed the seventh floor corridor? Just open this door and you will find out enough to fill your every desire! Yes teachers! You will be totally enriched! There is free butterbeer and honeydukes chocolate for everyone! Also, McGonnagal really needs an anti-wrinkle charm! Don't you agree? Also, Morgan needs a haircut and someone really should try and light a fire with Professor Panscratch's glasses...."  
  
There were many 'artistic' drawings underneath. One of a large saucepan with a dent in, an arrow explaining that it is Professor Panscratch. Another of McGonnagal with rather exaggerated creases in her cheekbones and many more teacher drawings, along with pictures of bars of chocolate and drinks just for the advertising.  
  
They had used the insults to lure in the teachers. Even as they watched, laughing students and furious teachers disappeared inside. "They won't be coming back for a while..." Sirius reminded James. (The door led into a large pit.)  
  
"We can't waste any more time! I'll see you later!" James ran up to the astronomy tower with the invisibility cloak and Sirius dashed into McGonnagal's private stores, using a knife he explained to James that his uncle had given him.  
  
As James arrived at the top tower he heard a loud, oddly female voice. "All students and staff alike to proceed immediately to classroom three off the Entrance hall as quickly as possible. Any student of member of staff who remains in the castle will be expelled or sacked." James laughed out loud as he heard Sirius' voice falter, obviously forcing himself not to laugh. "I will give you more information there."  
  
James looked down over the grounds. "Peter! Let me go!" Excellent, thought James as he heard Sirius run outside.  
  
"Remus Lupin! Come out with your hand up!" Sirius held up his wand and a long stretchy piece of purple string, which he flung over at Remus, catching him in the waist and sticking firmly.  
  
"Sirius Black! Let me go!" Remus screamed as Sirius pulled and the sticky string forced him to rotate in the air.  
  
"Remus... I know what you are doing..." James spoke, completely invisible, and in a voice quite unlike his own. "Now it is time to tell your friends."  
  
"You don't understand!" Remus panted. "This is serious Sirius!" He yelled frantically as Sirius forced him into a twirl. "It's not a game anymore! Let me into the Shrieking shack! LET ME IN! I'm going to transform! I AM A WEREWOLF!"  
  
If the rest of the school had not been trapped in a stone pit, they would have definitely heard Remus' cry. James could hear his frustrated yells as he tried to free himself. This news was not what any of them had been expecting. An icy silence followed his words, a werewolf? Then that meant... Their plan was going horribly wrong... They could make use of this though... "SIRIUS!" James shouted. "THE CASTLE!"  
  
Sirius' eyes lit up as he flicked the end of the string back, causing Remus to fly past him and hurtle through the main door. Sirius then detached himself from the rope and closed the door behind Remus. Even from the astronomy tower, James could see both Sirius and Peter looking white and shaky. Then he remembered he was trapped in the castle with a werewolf.  
  
His heart raced as he thought frantically of how to get out alive. Maybe Remus hadn't transformed yet... James fan down the many flights of stairs, knowing that somewhere in the castle, a werewolf could jump out of any dark shadow or any open door. He was in the entrance hall. Remus was still a boy. "James..." He croaked. "James... They all know..."  
  
"No they don't" James assured him. "We would never let that happen to you." He looked back at Remus, smiling gently to see not a boy standing there, but a grotesque form... Snarling teeth flashed at him as it reared up on its hind legs. Ears pricked up; fur began to blossom over Remus' skin... He let out a bloodcurdling howl. The wolf turned to face James. It was ready to kill...  
  
"JAMES!" Sirius and Peter burst through the oak doors, slamming them firmly shut behind them. "GET OUT!" But James was frozen and white. The wolf turned to Sirius and Peter, it growled menacingly and lowered its head...  
  
"NO YOU DON'T!" Sirius had hit the wolf with a spell. It had little affect, and seemed only to have angered the wolf.  
  
"R-Remus? Don't you remember me? I am Peter Petigrew! I am your friend! Sirius and James! You wouldn't hurt them!" Peter was looking in horror at the wolf, evidently still looking into the eyes of his best friend. "Sirius! Don't attack him! He's our friend!" Peter stammered as Sirius shot another spell.  
  
"Let's get out! Inritare!" James shouted, having found his voice. The spell hit the wolf in the chest. It turned, snarling to face James. "RUN FOR IT!" James yelled at the other two. They didn't need telling twice. Within seconds, only James and a werewolf remained in the shadowy entrance hall.  
  
"C'mon Remus..." James tried to reason with the wolf as it growled, eyes glued directly to James' face. "You wouldn't hurt me!"  
  
Remus reared up upon his hind legs, he was ready to charge at him, to strike, to kill... James thought briefly of all that he would miss... Hogwarts, the forbidden forest, Lily Evans, children, grandchildren, great great...  
  
"I think, Mr Potter, he would." James spun around, momentarily oblivious to the fact that a murderous werewolf was planted feet from him.  
  
It was Albus Dumbledore. His eyes were fixed upon the wolf's scrawny structure. "I do not of course, blame you Mr Lupin." He assured, watching the wolf with no fear at all. "I am afraid I really must lead you to the shrieking shack now..." He flicked his wand and Remus began to levitate, gliding out through the doors into the grounds... vanishing into the darkness of a tree, where James heard another howl, then silence.  
  
He glanced quickly up at Dumbledore to see not anger in his ageing face, but dismay. "I vowed to myself I would let no one discover Mr Lupin's secret. I am of course the only Headmaster to allow him into the school." James watched as Dumbledore's usually sparkling blue eyes drew sadly through the open doors into the grounds. "I have broken a promise I made to myself."  
  
"Professor Dumbledore!" Sirius and Peter arrived panting at the scene. Their eyes were fixed nervously on Dumbledore as they flung themselves roughly through the doors. "It was all our fault!"  
  
"Yes, excellent drawing Mr Black, I suggest you consider a career in artistry." Dumbledore said in an expressionless tone, turning to Sirius who froze. "And you, Mr Petigrew, it really was a good idea of yours, I suppose I do need to 'chill out' don't I." He turned to Peter's guilty face. "Now hundreds of memories must be modified, otherwise I really will have been a failure to myself."  
  
"No, Professor Dumbledore, we've already sorted that out, there's a sound repelling charm on both sides of the door." James added hopefully.  
  
"Thank you for your thought Mr Potter. You are three great friends, though have any of you heard the expression, 'look before you leap?' Hundreds have suffered from one simple piece of information. Most of it, I may add was totally unnecessary. I would advise you to spend more time planning if there would be a next time. If I were you I would go straight to the Gryffindor common room, and please remember to tell no one of the events of tonight. Your position in the school, I am afraid will need to be reconsidered."  
  
A/N: Well they had to find out somehow right? Well thanks SO much 2 anyone who has reviewed and thanks 4 reading!! 


	12. Vexalt's Mysterious Diary

CHAPTER 12  
  
"Reconsider our position!" James yelped as they darted up to the Gryffindor common room. "But that sounds like..."  
  
"How funny would it be if they can't get that placard off the door! WHAT? You don't think..." Sirius who had just understood Dumbledore's words, was staring wide-eyed and horror struck at James.  
  
"Oh no!" Peter wailed. "I was so excited about coming!"  
  
"We won't be expelled," James reassured him, though not quite believing it himself.  
  
As they changed and got into their beds, the other Gryffindor boys came in, laughing insanely. "Did you see it! It was hilarious! They couldn't get it off either! Anti-wrinkling charm..." Albert Davis collapsed with laughter.  
  
"We just entered the room McGonnagal told us to and then we left it, there wasn't butter beer or anything, just an empty classroom..." Frank told them as though they might not already know.  
  
Professor McGonnagal had told them with thin lips to go straight to Dumbledore's office that morning before breakfast. "It doesn't matter about that!" She snapped as Sirius and Peter grabbed fistfuls of dry toast. "Go now and I will be meeting you shortly."  
  
Though as they raced up the many flights of stairs, Sirius and Peter were still stuffing themselves with food. "Where does this do d'you think?" Sirius drew to a halt by a small corridor they had not seen before.  
  
"Not now!" James tried pulling him away but Sirius would not budge. "Come on, if we're late..."  
  
But Sirius had vanished so reluctantly, grabbing Peter, James did the same. "Look at this! I've found something!" Sirius called. The long dark corridor did not seem to lead anywhere at all, though Sirius was grinning in a dog like way at a statue that he pushed aside to reveal a passageway. "We've found so many now we could make a map!" Sirius scribbled down directions on a small notebook he was always flashing.  
  
"Shall we go through?" Peter asked tentatively.  
  
"Like we have a choice." James laughed as he and Peter ran at top speed to catch up with Sirius who had just turned a corner.  
  
The stone floor was getting dirtier, and wet. "Sirius!" James called, as the corner of his robes flicked out of sight. "I don't think this is a good idea!" It was also getting darker, making it hard for James to see Sirius at all.  
  
"Come on!" Sirius whined, making them jump. "You're not usually this boring!"  
  
"I'm not usually about to get chucked out of school." James muttered.  
  
"So let's make our last hour fun then?" Sirius pleaded and without waiting for an answer began running again.  
  
They must have been in the tunnel for at least five minutes. It was getting lighter though, but a lot muddier. As Peter jumped at having seen a rat, he splashed James with mud up to his waist.  
  
"Sirius! Are you there?" James shouted. There had been little sound from him. James soon found out why. The tunnel led to Professor Vexalt's office. As James and Peter climbed out through a portrait of an old wizard with grey hair, they caught sight of Sirius who had been cornered.  
  
"Oi!" James yelled as Professor Vexalt turned, Sirius craned his neck to signal to them.  
  
"Well... you three thought you could trespass in my private trail did you?" He hissed in a deadly whisper.  
  
"No! We... we got lost and thought we might not be late if we went that way!" Peter spluttered.  
  
"I see." Professor Vexalt's dark eyes travelled from one guilty face to another. "I may choose not to believe you..."  
  
"Excuse me Professor Vexalt..." Dumbledore came breezing through the door. James wondered briefly how he had known where they were. "I will take them from here." Professor Vexalt looked as though we would have liked to argue, but didn't dare because he scowled at them as they left, muttering about secrets and disturbing.  
  
"Are we going to be expelled?" Peter asked Dumbledore nervously as Dumbledore stated the password and the stone Gargoyle sprang aside so they could enter.  
  
"I am afraid that decision does not rest with me alone." Dumbledore explained, though there was a look in his eye that made James feel ashamed already. "Though Professor Vexalt would not have been happy if his brains had been disturbed. He is breeding."  
  
"Breeding brains!" James blurted out.  
  
Dumbledore said nothing, but entered his circular office where Professor McGonnagal was already seated.  
  
"Ah, hello Minerva." Dumbledore greeted her. James also caught sight of Professor Panscratch who was sitting in the corner scribbling. "Please sit down." Dumbledore gestured at three chairs, which they occupied. "And please explain everything."  
  
James looked at Sirius. It was hard to come up with an excuse on the spot, though they had been thinking about it all night. To their dismay, it was Peter who spoke.  
  
"Well... we wanted to find out where Remus went every night so we set up a room to lure anyone away while...ouch!" Sirius stepped on his toes.  
  
"We found him in the grounds and simply asked what he was doing and he got frustrated and told us and ran into the castle and we went in to get him out." James gabbled.  
  
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows as though he did not believe a word James had spoken.  
  
"And how should that explain why you were in the top tower with his invisibility cloak, Mr Black here was raiding my private stores? Or why an item banned from the school came into use, not to mention offending dozens of staff members with crude drawings and insults?" Professor McGonnagal was eyeing them beadily. How had she found out?  
  
"That was so no one would find out about Remus!" Sirius retorted, glaring at Professor Panscratch who sunk low in his chair.  
  
"Or duelling with a werewolf?" Professor McGonnagal's eyebrows vanished as she spoke, (which was near impossible as her hair was scraped back).  
  
"We'd have been eaten alive!" James yelled as he thought he saw Dumbledore's lips flicker.  
  
"Not when I am headmaster." He said calmly.  
  
"Well if your story makes sense, why did you enter the castle?" McGonnagal questioned in a reporter like manner, though Professor Panscratch already occupied this position.  
  
"I was in the astronomy tower because otherwise Remus wouldn't tell us." James confessed through gritted teeth.  
  
"I see." McGonnagal stated.  
  
"Please... Professor... are we going to be expelled?" Peter was twisting his hands nervously.  
  
Professor McGonnagal turned to him. "Well Mr Petigrew, if we totalled the number of school rules broken we would be here all day! Never have we had such behaviour and many members of staff are currently talking about refusing to work, many students are still confused about the events, the entrance hall last night was near destruction. I might also add that we cannot remove or cover the sign glued to the door so if Professor Dumbledore agrees with me, I am afraid we have no choice but to do so."  
  
They turned in horror to Dumbledore who was watching them carefully over his moon shaped glasses. Professor Panscratch had paused in his writing and was watching carefully. "I do not agree with you Minerva." Dumbledore spoke the words firmly, as the three of them breathed a sigh of relief. "I have always believed, as you know, in second chances. I remain sure this will not be the first or last time but I must insist they remain in school, you see, help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it. There is no permanent damage, I am sure we can remove that door somehow, everyone is safe, Mr Lupin's secret was not disclosed and though there are short term effects, no one is entirely flawless." He smiled at them wisely.  
  
"Excellent speech Dumbledore." Someone must have entered the room unnoticed as the six people in the office turned abruptly to glimpse the spy. "But I may be forced to contradict you."  
  
Professor Vexalt came hobbling into the office. "These boys would have been expelled a long time ago if I were headmaster." He pulled out a roll of parchment, which he unravelled and began to read. "Tuesday the 12th September, Mr Potter and Mr Black were sighted rummaging in Professor McGonnagal's private stores. They did the same the next day, and the week after. Thursday the 14th September, Mr Black put permanent sticking charms on the Slytherins' seats in my potions lesson. Friday the 15th September, Severus Snape was hurtling through the air in a polka dot dress. Saturday the 16th September, identical twins Sisana and Liana were displaced... Continuing with Saturday Mr Black and Potter were sneaking down to the kitchens in that cloak and tricking the house elves into sneaking dungbombs in scrambled eggs and at 7:30pm on Saturday..." Professor Vexalt began to read some of their worst tricks, to the downright funny ones, as Dumbledore's face crumpled.  
  
As he got to a particularly nasty one involving dancing house elves, floating cabbages and Slytherins, Dumbledore let out a very audible sigh. The list seemed to go on forever, he did not miss anything as the three of them sunk so low in their seats only their heads were in sight. They were sure to be expelled now, thanks to Morgan Vexalt. What did he have against his parents to do this to him?  
  
"And yet again, Mr Potter broke into my stores, the fifth time that week, I might add and Just like his father was..." Professor Vexalt concluded.  
  
"Fourth." James corrected under his breath as all eyes were fixed on him.  
  
Dumbledore's eyes were full of an emotion James had never crossed before but could not distinguish. "Professor Vexalt, may I ask why you have been keeping a diary on four of the school's students?"  
  
"No, Dumbledore you may not." Professor Vexalt hissed, his matted hair was in his face as he hissed the words. "I think that now you agree to their expulsion?"  
  
"Let me see the diary please." Dumbledore said coldly, thrusting out his hand in a rather aggressive manner.  
  
Professor Vexalt handed it gracefully to him. "Certainly." He whispered eyes full of glee as Dumbledore read the parchment sadly.  
  
"You did this under your own intentions?" He asked them grievingly.  
  
The three of them nodded; there seemed no point in lying any more. Why was Morgan Vexalt keeping a diary on him? Was this continuing his grudge against his father at school? A/N: Mmm does this sound familiar  
  
"Can you explain any of it?" Dumbledore asked as though clinging onto a shred of hope that they wouldn't be expelled.  
  
"Care of magical creatures is so interesting we wanted to make the most of it, Transfiguration is a wonderful subject we wanted to experiment with in a higher quality," James caught McGonnagal and Panscratch's eyes as he spoke. "We knew what Professor Binns was talking about anyway, same goes to the other subjects. We were raiding cupboards because we wanted to advance in lessons by using higher levels of magic. Then we explored the school and grounds because we're only here seven years and school years are supposed to be the best, and in potions we were plain bored." He finished viciously as Professor Vexalt shot him a murderous glare.  
  
"Thank you." Dumbledore smiled faintly. "I am glad there are reasons for your behaviour. I do understand about Severus Snape, I had an arch enemy at school too and I am aware that he is not entirely clean in records."  
  
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN!" Professor Vexalt was livid with rage, face red and bulging as he roared at Dumbledore. "YOU ARE GOING TO IGNORE IT?!" He bellowed, swaying on the spot.  
  
"Yes I am." Dumbledore told him calmly. "The past is not something to be reflected on and if you were to follow others round I am sure the diaries would be similar."  
  
"THEY WOULD NOT!" Roared Vexalt, eyes popping with madness. "YOU CAN'T IGNORE SOMETHING LIKE THIS DUMBLEDORE YOU FOOL!" He bellowed, completely scarlet and breathing heavily as though a pillow was being clamped to his mouth.  
  
"I would not advise you to call the man you are working for a fool Professor Vexalt." Dumbledore warned in one breath, as he turned to face him. I am not going to entirely ignore the charges against them, though they are only children after all and their punishments for this..." He gestured at Vexalt's diary as though it was a ageing rag will be in the hands of Professor McGonnagal.  
  
"WHAT?!" Vexalt spluttered as though he could not believe what was happening.  
  
"Please leave us Professor Vexalt."  
  
Vexalt did not go quietly. He slammed the door behind him with all the force he had left, which caused several of Dumbledore's ornaments to fall from their containers and shatter. "Well..." Dumbledore turned to them, eyes dull though determined. "I cannot say some charges Professor Vexalt had against you were... rather ingenious for your age but please do remember that if he had the tiniest bit more evidence you would be forced to leave the school. Please be careful, that is all I will say to you."  
  
Five minutes later they ran laughing and cheering from Dumbledore's office, unable to believe they had got away with only detentions and letters home. "I am amazed we weren't expelled!" Peter said shakily as they scanned their timetables.  
  
"It's charms." Remus said lightly without the need to grab a timetable. "We'd better hurry, we've missed more than half the lesson already!"  
  
"There doesn't really seem any point going for the last few minutes..." Sirius began but Remus cut him off.  
  
"Sirius! Don't you think we're not in enough trouble already without missing another lesson?" Remus said in exasperated tones so they trudged along the corridor in the vague direction of charms.  
  
A/N: I am seriously considering redoing all of this!! I have a plot but can someone tell me if it's working or not?! Anyway, I'll try again (yet again)! THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR READING!!! I LOVE GETTING REVIEWS! AND PLEASE VISIT MY OTHER FANFIC! 


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